


Does Whatever A Spider Can

by telperion_15



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Drama, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-10
Updated: 2010-11-10
Packaged: 2017-10-13 04:03:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/132637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/telperion_15/pseuds/telperion_15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Atlantis experiences another quarantine lockdown.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Does Whatever A Spider Can

**Author's Note:**

> Written for mini_nanowrimo on LiveJournal, from the prompt McKay/Sheppard, gymnastics.
> 
> Spoilers for 'Quarantine'.

Rodney tapped furiously away at his keyboard, Zelenka muttering something in frustrated-sounding Czech beside him. He still couldn’t quite believe that the city had plunged them into yet another pointless quarantine lockdown. He would have been prepared to bet his entire supply of good coffee that he’d fixed the bugs that had caused the last one.

Apparently he would have lost – the bet and the coffee.

“Wait, wait, wait, do you hear that?” Zelenka said suddenly.

Rodney frowned at him, annoyed that his concentration had been broken. “Hear what?” he snapped.

“I thought I heard a thud,” Zelenka replied.

Rodney listened. He couldn’t hear anything except the faint sound of waves outside the city, and the conspicuous silence on his earpiece that indicated the comms were down. _Again._

He directed a scathing look at Zelenka. “And people say I’m the one who has issues with claustrophobia,” he said.

Zelenka glared right back at him. “I _heard_ something,” he insisted, but didn’t press the point, and instead went back to his computer. Rodney did the same.

But a moment later came an unmistakeable scraping sound, like something rasping along the wall. This time Rodney heard it too, although he chose to ignore the smug expression on Zelenka’s face.

“Oh, what now?” he muttered.

Then he caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye. Swinging round on his stool, he was confronted by the somewhat bizarre sight of a pair of feet coming into view at the top of the window. A pair of feet clad in unlaced black military-issue boots.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Rodney said. “Tell me hasn’t…”

“He has,” Zelenka confirmed, as the rest of Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard dropped into view and landed on the external windowsill.

“He thinks he’s Spiderman or something,” Rodney complained as he crossed the lab to the window. “Like we’re all going to be impressed by his gymnastics.”

Sheppard gave him a little wave as Rodney came to a halt in from of him, and then mouthed something that Rodney was pretty sure was “Are you all right?”

“Fine,” Rodney replied loudly, although he didn’t think Sheppard could hear him.

But Sheppard seemed to have understood, as he nodded and grinned broadly. Then he mouthed something else.

“What?” asked Rodney. Much as he hated to admit there might be something he wasn’t that good at, his lip-reading skills weren’t really up to much.

Sheppard said whatever he was saying again, but Rodney was none the wiser. He shrugged at Sheppard.

“He is asking about the status of the quarantine,” Zelenka said suddenly, at Rodney’s shoulder.

Rodney jumped, and then scowled at him. “Did you learn those stealth skills when you were escaping from your country?” he asked in annoyance.

But Zelenka merely quirked a smile at him, said “Yes, Rodney” patiently, and then proceeded to act out a series of gestures at Sheppard, all of which the colonel seemed to understand, as he nodded again when Zelenka finally stopped flailing around.

Then Sheppard mimed something back that was undoubtedly an enquiry as to whether he should break the window to let himself inside.

“No! No, no, _no!_ ” shouted Rodney, frantically waving his arms in the negative.

Sheppard rolled his eyes. “Okay, calm down, McKay,” he mouthed.

“Wait a moment, I’ve got an idea.” Rodney hurried over to his lab bench and grabbed one of the computer tablets from it. He typed something quickly on the screen, and then flipped it round to show Sheppard.

 _The last time you did that you set off the self-destruct sequence._

Comprehension dawned on Sheppard’s face, and he shrugged sheepishly. “All right,” he mouthed. “So now what?”

Rodney typed something else. _How should I know? No one forced you start climbing around on the outside of the building._

Sheppard’s lips moved again as he said something else.

“He is saying he wanted to check if we were okay,” Zelenka supplied helpfully.

“Yes, _thank you_ , I think I got that one,” Rodney replied. He deliberately didn’t look Zelenka in the eye, as he was pretty sure Sheppard’s words had been directed more at him than at the Czech scientist.

“He looks very uncomfortable out there,” Zelenka continued. “The sill, it is not very deep.”

Unfortunately, Zelenka was right. The sill might be deep enough for Sheppard to stand on, but he was also having to grip on to the window frame with his right hand in order to keep his balance. And Rodney could see by the movement of his hair and clothing that it was pretty windy outside today, which probably wasn’t helping matters.

“Maybe you should tell him to climb back up while we keep working on the problem?” Zelenka suggested, as he went and sat down in front of his computer again, peering at the screen with instant concentration.

“Yeah, right, it’s a miracle he made it down here in one piece,” Rodney muttered. But he nonetheless typed another message to Sheppard.

 _Did you come from the control room?_

Sheppard nodded.

 _Can you climb back up?_

Sheppard looked doubtful, but nodded again.

 _I can’t let you in, I’m sorry._

“It’s all right, Rodney.”

They stared at each for a few moments, and then Sheppard smiled and looked up meaningfully.

“Be careful,” Rodney said, not bothering to type the message this time.

“I will.”

“Wait, wait, tell him to wait!” Zelenka exclaimed suddenly.

Rodney gestured quickly to Sheppard, and then turned to Zelenka. “What is it?”

“I think I have solved our problem.”

“What? You can’t possibly have…” Rodney started moving towards Zelenka, but before he could reach the other scientist, Zelenka had typed something else on his computer, and said something triumphantly in Czech.

There was a sudden burst of static in Rodney’s earpiece, which then resolved itself into Carter’s voice. “…odney, can you hear me?”

“I can hear you,” he replied quickly. “Zelenka and I have just broken the quarantine.”

“I did not see you giving much help,” Zelenka started, but Rodney waved him away.

“Oh, go and check if the door will open, will you? I really need to get out of here.” As he spoke he hurried back to the window. “Quarantine’s over,” he informed Sheppard.

“That’s great,” Sheppard responded through the glass. “Now, can you let me in, please?”

“Oh, yeah, right.” Quickly, Rodney opened the window, and Sheppard swung himself down over the sill, landing on the lab floor with a small thud.

“Hi, McKay,” he said brightly. “Hi, Dr Z.”

“Yes, yes, hello, Colonel,” Zelenka replied, from his position in the now open doorway. “Rodney, we must go and see Colonel Carter, and check that everything is all right in the control room.”

“I’ll catch you up in a minute,” Rodney said hastily. “I need to double check what you’ve done, and confirm you haven’t subjected us to a worse fate than death by slow suffocation.”

Zelenka gave him a narrow-eyed glare, but seemed to realise that he would get nowhere by arguing with Rodney. “Fine,” he said. “I will see you upstairs in five minutes. Do not be too long, Rodney.”

When he’d left, Rodney turned back to Sheppard and scowled at him. “Haven’t given up on your death wish, then?” he asked acidly. “Honestly, some people would have had enough of climbing around on very tall buildings without any safety equipment after the first time!”

“I wanted to check on you, McKay,” Sheppard defended himself. “After all, you are the one we count on to get us out of situations like this. And after last time, I wanted to make sure you were in the vicinity of a computer.” He grinned. “Although Zelenka seemed to have a pretty good grip on the problem without your help.”

“Oh, shut up,” Rodney retaliated. Then he frowned a little. “So is that the only reason you came down here, then?” he asked. “To check we were able to save the day again?”

“No, Rodney.” Sheppard took a step closer to him. “Like I said, I came down here to check on _you_.”

“Oh, er, well, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Sheppard took another step, bringing him close enough to slide his arms round Rodney’s waist. “And I think I need to do a very thorough check indeed.”

“We need to go upstairs and see Sam,” Rodney pointed out.

“She can wait a few more minutes,” said Sheppard, and leaned in.

Rodney was too busy kissing him back to reply.


End file.
